Matteo
Damn, I keep forgetting that it’s Saturday, which means Liss won’t be at home when I get there. Romeo is spending the weekend with Sienna’s parents in Michigan, on the other side of the lake, so the house will be
empty and quiet by the time I get home.
I purse my lips, staring into the distance. I don’t like to be completely on my own. Maybe I should ask Liss out tonight? I kinda- “What is Chen saying?”
“He’s pissed as hell. What else would he say?” Riccardo says with a cold, mocking voice, and I look up just in time to see him and Paolo looking away from each other with sour expressions.
Everyone has been on edge ever since we got busted on Tuesday, and I can see on Riccardo’s face that he has barely slept this week-and I
understand him. The Mexicans showed up out of nowhere exactly when our men arrived at Mount Hope to pick up a batch of a new drug from Thailand. I wasn’t there in person, but I was following Louis with my earphones, and trust me, I’ve seen enough from the Mexicans to recognize their tactics.
It was clearly an organized ambush, and since the same thing happened last month, I don’t think it was a coincidence. The Escarras knew when and where we would meet with Chen’s shippers-but we have no idea where they’d gotten the information from.
“He thinks we leaked the details about the deal,” Riccardo adds a moment later, sounding grumpy, and Louis chuckles.
“And you think it wasn’t us?”
“I’ve warned you that Gerardo was planning something against us,” Paolo says after his brother avoids Louis’s question for too long. He looks between us, meeting my gaze for a moment as if reminding me of our
conversation a few weeks ago, and turns to Riccardo again. “Whoever the rat is, we have to find him before it gets worse. We don’t even know how much the Mexicans know by now.”
Riccardo meets his gaze and nods, releasing a deep, tired breath. “I know, you’re right. Have you checked all our recruits?”
They go back to discussing the potential spies, and while I do listen to them and give some comments at first, eventually my thoughts go back to Liss.
I had to work all night to help Paolo put together the report and run a thorough check of all people involved in the Messina Clan and their potential connections with the Escarra family. It was just a regular work night, but the fact that I passed out in the morning and didn’t even get to say goodbye to Romeo or Liss still bothers me.
I’ve already called Sienna’s parents to talk to Romeo and make sure they reached their house safely, but I still haven’t talked to Liss, and it’s
already late afternoon. Damn it. As soon as I think about it, I feel that unpleasant feeling in my chest that appears whenever I spend too much time away from her. Something in me longs for her presence, and I can’t help but miss her even though it’s been less than a day since I saw her.
God, I’m going completely head over heels for her, huh? But for
some reason, it doesn’t scare me. It feels right to be so enamored by her- because I see that I can trust her. She owns my heart, and I know she’ll keep it safe.
I don’t know how much time we spend at Riccardo’s office, narrowing down the potential spies to four main suspects who, in one way or another, had connections with the Escarra family in the past. But even after that we aren’t done, because we still have to figure out a way to organize the shipments and deliveries for the rest of the month without the schedule leaving the office. We can’t allow ourselves to risk it anymore.
So by the time I leave the warehouse, it’s already getting dark outside. The sky is a deep hue of blue, peeking through the clouds painted purple from the setting sun, with the dark outline of Chicago’s skyline hiding the horizon.
I linger on the bank of Little Calumet River to take in the view with my hands deep in my pockets. My mind is heavy and tired from the
sleepless night, lonely morning, and endless hours of work. I just need some peace and contentment. My heart is longing for something, and I know for
sure that I don’t want to go back home tonight.
“Hello?” Liss picks up her phone after the second ring, and I immediately feel a wave of relief just from hearing her voice. She sounds
surprised and a little distracted, and I realize a bit too late that she may have her own plans for the night.
“Hey, are you busy?”
She chuckles with a huff, and the sound makes me smile. “Well, if painting my nails and rewatching an old movie for the third time counts as important business, then yes, I am very busy.”
“Really?” I can’t help but chuckle, holding the phone closer to my ear while walking away from the bank. The wistful feeling in my chest
shifts into one of fondness and affection from Liss’s voice alone, but it only makes me want her even closer. “What’s the movie?”
“Rebel Without a Cause.”
“Oh, so James Dean does it for you, huh?” “Well, you know I like bad boys.”
This time, I laugh out loud, feeling so stupidly happy to hear that she likes me and get into the car. God, I can’t hold myself back, I have to see her.
“You know, I’m just done with work, and I was thinking I could stop by your place, finish the movie with you, and then take you out for a fancy dinner. What do you think?”
“Fancy dinner, huh?” Liss hums with fake uncertainty, but I can hear a smile in her voice and turn on the ignition even before she gives up with a huff. “I can’t say no to that-not when I almost have my nails done.”
I show up at her doorstep some twenty minutes later, and if you told me three months ago that I’d be happy to make out with a girl for like five minutes, I’d laugh at you-but when it’s Liss greeting me at her doorstep, I’m more than happy to comply. Especially when it leads to fast, chaotic,
and full-of-laughter sex on her sofa that leaves me panting and utterly blissed out in her arms.
Sometimes, it’s hard for me to believe just how perfect she is-or rather, how perfect she is for me. I didn’t think I would ever feel this way
after Sienna’s death, but…god, I have this feeling in my gut that Liss is just right for me, you know? She’s the one.
As soon as the thought pops up in my head, I can’t shake it off, and every time I look at Liss, I feel it only growing deeper into my bones. Her smiles, her voice, her care, her touches-every little detail makes my heart
warm, and I kiss her again and again, making her giggle. Can you imagine a woman so perfect?
We spend the last forty minutes of the movie snuggled on her sofa, and I’m glad I don’t have to keep my hands to myself and can freely hold her whole body against mine. But it becomes increasingly difficult when
she starts dressing up, making me aroused with just the lines of her body, and I almost want to suggest staying at home.
But no, I want to make this evening special for her-and it turns out to be all worth it. Because an hour later, Liss sits in front of me in a tightly- fit dark green dress with her shoulders bare and her jewelry glistening in the candlelight, and I can’t even think about trading this dinner for anything
else.
“It’s such a beautiful place,” Liss whispers to me over the table, looking around with a glint of awe in her hazel eyes. It is rather pretty, I agree, but I don’t want to look at anything else but her. “I’ve never even heard about it.”
“Then I should take you here more often.” I smile at her, going as far as to give her a wink. “It’s definitely not as beautiful without you.”
Liss blinks and just looks at me for a moment, caught off guard, before casting her gaze to the menu while the corner of her lips rises into a shy smile. “Ah, you’re so…”
“Romantic?”
“Corny,” she says, deadpan, and I only grin in response. I know she likes it, though.
We spend the rest of the dinner talking and exchanging smiles, our gazes locked, our hands finding each other on the table, and it feels as if
someone has put a spell on the evening. What else can explain that
sensation of dancing sparkles in my chest? Why else does everything feel so amazing?
Perhaps, the answer is right in front of me-because when I’m with Liss, every minute feels like a dream.
After dinner, I don’t hurry to drive her back to her apartment.
Instead, I invite her to take a walk along the lakefront, and we spend
another hour just talking and enjoying each other’s presence with our hands entwined between us. It feels so intimate, so…sensual that when we finally get home, I pull Liss into a tight embrace and kiss her slowly and deeply until she loses her breath.
I take my time with her tonight, not rushing to claim her body but exploring and worshiping it instead until Liss turns into a trembling,
whimpering mess under my lips and hands. When I finally thrust inside of her, holding her down and murmuring praise, she comes right away-but I don’t stop and keep riding with her to the second orgasm. It feels so good just to have her in my power and make her writhe and lose her mind with pleasure for being so obedient to me.
We fall asleep just like that, with our limbs entangled, our breathing heavy in the silence of the night, and my last thought before drifting off is to hold Liss closer and never let go.
When I wake up, the room is gray in the faint light of the early morning and my bladder is full. The call of nature pulls me out of Liss’s bed and away-but this time, I can come back into her arms without
worrying about Romeo being stuck with Riccardo or any of my other friends. The idea of spending the morning with Liss makes me smile, and I’m already thinking about where to take her for breakfast by the time I get back under the blanket.
Liss is still deep in her sleep, but it’s too early to get up anyway, so I move to hug her, ready to doze off again. She has plenty of pillows on her bed-I don’t know why, but I guess it’s a woman thing-and I have to dig my hand under them to settle properly with my arm under Liss’s head. She murmurs something sleepily and sighs, fidgeting to press closer to me, and I smile fondly and close my eyes.
Yeah, she has to get a lot of rest before-
Wait. I frown and spread my fingers again, feeling something solid under the pillows. What’s that? Well, it’s probably none of my business, but I can’t help my curiosity. I move my hand just a little further, tracing the outline of the object, and something pinches in my chest. I know the shape of it too well even if my mind refuses to admit that it’s a knife.
Why would Liss have it under her pillows? Is she scared of
something? Is someone threatening her? A dozen questions flash through my mind, pushing all remnants of sleep out of me, and I fidget, trying not to wake Liss up with my tension, and pull the knife closer to me. Liss does frown in her sleep and rolls onto her belly, but her eyes remain closed, unaware of my heavy gaze on her.
The pieces start to come together even before I slide the sheath from under the sheets, but I refuse to listen to the voice of logic-because I don’t know if my heart will be able to take it. Of course, the knife is just a precaution. Liss probably found out about my family business and is now
scared of the Mafia world. But why hasn’t she told me? Where did she find the knife in the first place?
It takes me one glance to see that it’s not a kitchen knife or anything else Liss would be able to find in a store. It’s a goddamn dagger, and when I hold the sheath closer to my eyes to check the engraving, I go still. It feels as if someone knocked a bucket of ice water over my guts, the cold going deep into my bones.
This girl-god, I can’t believe I’m such a fucking idiot!
A wave of heated rage rises in my chest, melting the ice of shock and disbelief and making me grip the dagger even tighter. My thumb
presses into Escarra engraved into the sheath, and I look at Liss and clench my jaw to stop myself from doing something awful. Of course she’s a traitor. Of course!
On the very first day, Liss overheard me talking to Hector and didn’t say anything as if she didn’t mind hearing it. As if she wanted to hear it.
And that time when I caught her in my office? I pinch the bridge of my nose with intensity, keeping my eyes shut so tightly my face turns into a grimace. Her flirting, her obedience, her desire to be closer to me-but for what?
God, it hurts.
Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure where she came from. I barely paid attention to her resume, too smitten at first fucking glance.
What a dumbass!
I growl under my breath, fisting the sheets and barely holding myself from punching the pillows and releasing my fury. My chest is on fire, and my heart is beating so fast despite the invisible claws tearing it
apart. It hasn’t hurt like this in a very long time, and I…I can’t believe I thought my heart was safe with her.
I look at Liss again when I feel that my anger is under control. She looks so blissful, innocent, and completely relaxed, and just an hour ago the sight would have made me happy. Now, it only fills me with resentment and hurt.
I trusted her. I let her closer than anyone. My house, my son, my heart-I opened every door to her, I gave her everything. Why would she do this to me?
After the storm of emotions passes, I feel my broken heart weeping in my chest. The dagger lies in my lap. It didn’t reach its target-but it found its way deeper than my flesh and bones.